Man fined for hiring illegal immigrants

Former boss avoids jail but is fined $1,000 after raid at Guilderland plant

Updated 7:54 pm, Thursday, October 27, 2011

ALBANY -- A former assistant general manager at IFCO Systems North America in Guilderland was fined $1,000 Thursday in U.S. District Court -- the first of the company's 11 local defendants to be sentenced for employing illegal immigrant workers.

Dario Salzano, 41, of Middleburgh, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in February 2007, was spared any prison time or probation during his appearance before Senior Judge Lawrence Kahn. The defendant had hired at least 21 illegal immigrants during his tenure at IFCO.

"I don't really understand how I allowed myself to get into this position," Salzano told the judge, "but I can tell you it will never happen again. I am truly sorry for what I have done."

Salzano's attorney, Kevin Luibrand, asked the judge to consider that Salzano has been effectively on post-sentence supervision since his guilty plea to one count of unlawful employment of illegal aliens. It took that long for the sentencing, the lawyer noted, because Salzano was cooperating with the government on other cases.

In his plea deal, Salzano admitted IFCO supervisors instructed him to try to employ Hispanic pallet workers -- and to look for them at Hispanic grocery stores and "authentic" restaurants. It noted none of the Hispanic pallet workers hired by Salzano were U.S. citizens.

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The plea agreement stated Salzano "knew of but deliberately ignored many facts that demonstrated that the pallet workers he hired and continued to employ were unauthorized aliens."

On Thursday, Luibrand told Kahn his client was "by far at the very bottom" of IFCO officials in culpability, noting it was not Salzano's idea to employ illegal immigrants. Court papers show he was employed at IFCO as assistant general manager from August 2005 to April 2006. Luibrand argued any punitive fine would be difficult for his client.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Sciocchetti agreed with Luibrand on nearly every point, but said Salzano, now employed elsewhere, should be fined. The judge, in turn, sentenced Salzano to pay the fine immediately but spared him prison time or probation.

The Houston-based IFCO employed as many as 6,000 illegal immigrants at pallet plants around the country between 2003 and 2006. That year, the company's secret was exposed in the largest workplace raids in U.S. history. Some 45 IFCO plants in 26 states were raided following a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The investigation started when authorities were tipped off that immigrant workers at the Guilderland plant were ripping up their W-2 tax forms.

Five Texas-based IFCO employees have already been sentenced, officials said.